Men's Track & Field

CSUN Track & Field Resumes Big West Title Chase Friday

NORTHRIDGE, Calif. - The Big West Track & Field Championships resume this Friday with the Cal State Northridge men and women battling to get back on the podium.

Friday's action gets underway at UC Davis' Toomey Field & Woody Wilson Track at 9 a.m. with the men's hammer final. Five field events are scheduled to begin before the first event on the track (women's 1,500 meters) at 3:30 p.m.

For the second straight year, saturday's final day of competition will be live on Fox Prime Ticket from 2-6 p.m.

The CSUN women, who have won a Big West record eight team championships, have not been to the top of the award stand since winning their sixth-consecutive crown in 2011. The Matador men, who own five conference team championships, last won in 2010.

MATADOR WOMEN'S CHAMPIONSHIP NOTES
On the women's side, the Matadors are among the conference favorites as the championships resume. CSUN opened the meet by picking up nine points in the heptathlon last weekend as senior Stephanie Hicks' finished fourth, junior Olympia Jewett was sixth and freshman Emma Millard was eighth.

CSUN comes in at or near the top of the conference performance list in 13 events. Hicks has the top time in the 100 meter hurdles (13.74), Marissa Rossi has the top mark in the triple jump (40-8.25) and both the women's 4x100 and 4x400 relays lead the conference heading into the championships.

The Matador women have gone two seasons without winning the Big West 100 meters and four seasons without winning the 200 meters, events they have dominated since entering the conference in 2002. CSUN has won a total of nine 100m championships (eight consecutive from 2004-11) and five 200m championships and this weekend will send six sprinters in each. Sophomore Marie Veale has the second-best time in the conference this season in both events with junior Le'Shel Vines third in the 100 and ninth in the 200. CSUN will face the challenge of defeating defending 100 and 200 meter champion Ashley Marshall of UC Davis on her home track.

Hicks and Veale rank first and seventh in the 100 meter hurdles where a CSUN win would be the first for a Matador since Heather Heron in 2002. Ronisha Vallery and Millard carry the CSUN hopes in the 400 hurdles as the duo looks to end a six-year title drought in the event.

CSUN reclaimed its status as the fastest team in the conference by winning the 4x100 relay in 2013. The Matadors, who had won seven times between 2002 and 2010, snapped a string of two straight Cal State Fullerton relay wins. An eight-time conference winner in the 4x400, CSUN last won in 2011 before finishing fourth in 2012 and fifth last season.

In addition to Rossi's conference-leading mark in the triple jump, Ashley Henry has the second-best height in the high jump and two-time conference champion Tiana Webberley has the second-best height in the pole vault this season. Rossi also leads a powerful jumps squad in the long jump as she has the conference's fourth-best mark this season. CSUN last won a jumping event in 2012 when Ese Ntekume won the triple jump.

In the throws, sophomore Monique Griffiths comes into the championships ranked second in the hammer and third in the discus. The Matador women have never won a Big West discus title and last took home a throwing gold in 2010 when Morgan Bogard won the hammer.

MATADOR MEN'S CHAMPIONSHIP NOTES
The CSUN men will be without the services of 2013 Track Athlete of the Year Carl Horsley and Nico DeMartino who had a hand in scoring 55 points for the Matadors at last season's conference championships.

In the absence of Horsley and DiMartino, juniors Jordan Taylor and Kenneth Stone will attempt to carry on the CSUN legacy in the 100 and 200 meters. The Matadors have won seven 100 meter championships and six 200 meter titles with Horsley winning both in 2013, the third CSUN sprinter to do so. Kemar Marsden completed the double in 2012, Horsley also swept in 2011 and DeShawn Waters claimed both in 2009.

Sophomore Alex Monsivaiz will go for CSUN's first-ever win in the 800 meters as he comes into the meet with the second-best time in the Big West this season at 1:49.69. Joshua Hemphill, Kevin Finley and Grant Weiss will carry the Matador hopes in the 110 hurdles, an event CSUN has won six times but not since Michael Woodham in 2011.

The men's 4x100 relay team will look to extend a run of five straight titles as CSUN has not lost the sprint relay since 2008. The 2014 Matadors figure to be right in the mix as the team of Stone, Taylor, Christian Carter and Kiyoshi Johnson has the third-best time in the conference this season, 40.99 at the Bulldog Invitational in Fresno.

The CSUN men are also a threat in the jumping events as Lohnnie Tape-Jackson and Reggie Trotter share the third-best high jump this season at 6-8. Senior Derion Taylor, who was sixth in the triple jump last season, brings the second-best mark in the conference into the competition while fellow senior Jory Rucker ranks fourth in the long jump. Rucker was fourth as a freshman in 2011 and was fifth in 2013.

In the throwing events, redshirt frehman Zach Rosales ranks as high as seventh in the shot put and freshman Evan Arnott is seventh in the discus. The Matador men last won a throwing event in 2010 when Alex Butler won the hammer and Derek Cooper won both the discus and shot put.